Roughly one in seven people on earth have Jan Koum and his company WhatsApp, to thank for their ability to call and text their friends and family free of charge.

BEGINNING WITH CRUCIAL SITUATION

Jan Koum, an Ukranian-American computer programmer who used to live a simple and honest life with his mother in Ukraine. After a period, his mother was suffered from cancer. It was a very tough situation for him; His family struggled a lot. Through a social program, his family got a small apartment, but this was just like cumin seed in a camel’s mouth. Although, he knew that he could change his fate with his skills, hard-working attitude and determined behaviour towards life.

BATTLE WITH LIFE

At the age of 18, he was studying at San Jose state university to learn programming and simultaneously worked at Ernst & Young where he revealed the flaws in security mechanism. In 1997, he joined Yahoo as an instructed engineer. Where he met another co-worker, with whom he formed a long-term collaboration in future. In 2007 he left the Yahoo and travelled with that yahoo co-worker “Brian Acton.” They both applied at Facebook but got rejected from Facebook. He also tried his luck with Twitter, but the result was same, he got rejection again.

DECISIVE TURN

In January 2009, with the help of his new iPhone, Jan Koum came up with an idea to create a secure messaging app; to connect everyone on a single platform. His friend Brian Acton understood his vision and joined him as a Co-Founder. On his Birthday, he officially launched the app with the name of “Whatsapp Incorporation” in California. After receiving a tremendous response, he understood that it is a golden opportunity and had put all his efforts, resources into building world’s favourite mobile messaging app.

RISE OF INNOVATION

In October 2009, through seed funding round, he raised $250,000, and his app got placed under “Top 20” in US app store. In 2014, after 2 years of friendship with Mark Zuckerberg, he signed a deal with him and sold his most promising app in 19 billion dollars. However, Whatsapp joined Facebook in 2014, but still, it operates as a separate app. Recently Jan Koum finds about the threats related to security and added some new security feature which makes this app world famous.

And currently, Whatsapp has more than one billion users. He was listed in Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans at position 62, with an approximated worth of more than seven and half billion dollars.

MANTRA OF SUCCESS

This story has the potential to inspire those who are struggling to get success because when you chase your dreams wholeheartedly, you inevitably get a sweet essence of success one day. Jan proved that nothing is impossible when you don’t give up. He walked on the path which was not easy, but after his all efforts and hard work he finally reached his destination and founded billion dollar company.

Do you have an interesting story to share? Please write to us at [email protected]. To stay updated with more positive news, please connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.